Blood to Bleed
by JacksLacking
Summary: AU. Modern day. Naruto and Sasuke first meet at a rally point. After devastation, their squadrons merge and they end up going to war together. And with each other. War fic. Narusasu. Sasunaru.


**A/N: Hey guys. I've always been somewhat obsessed with war films, and then I had a crazy 4am brainwave urge to write my own 'war story'. Not a proper one, though. I quite like using Naruto and Sasuke. I was quite surprised that, after a quick (crappy) search on , there weren't many warfics in the Naruto community (at least, ones that weren't either gang wars or angel vs demon wars). I know that it's probably a touchy subject to write on, but eh, I felt like it. And I really love war films. This will probably be influenced somewhat by them (if you haven't watched 'Saving Private Ryan' - I AM SHOCKED AND ASHAMED FOR YOU TO BE READING THIS. GO WATCH IT RIGHT NOW) Thank you.**

**Another note: I'm really crap at history. Like, I know nothing about it. So if you are a historian and you're reading this, please forgive me. I did my best to research everything in an attempt to look less stupid, but feel free to correct me if I got anything wrong. I'll probably try to keep things vague to 1) prevent myself looking like a moron and 2) help my moron-equals to understand the fic without having to Google every other word.**

**Pairing will be NaruSasu and SasuNaru.**

**Rated M for language, violence, sex in future chapters.**

**Disclaimer: I no own Sasuke and Naruto. "Blood to Bleed" is the title of a Rise Against song.**

**Hope you guys like it! Please leave feedback about what I got wrong/can improve on/possible ideas for later chapters. If you let me know what you want to see, you might just get it.**

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><p>The rally point was... Busy, to say the least. Naruto surveyed his surroundings and shifted his pack higher onto his shoulder. This location was quite a key one as it lay somewhat near the coast - obviously a target - however, this one had been notoriously quiet for a while now (a while being a month or so). This had had different reactions among the men. Some were lulled into a (false?) sense of security, whilst others were becoming more paranoid about an oncoming attack every day. The tension was usually stifling in the air, but it was getting dark and the soldiers were beginning to relax slightly. Since the rally point had grown in size, it had moved away from the coast (and the soldiers on guard defending it) and into the shelter of trees.<p>

Naruto was not actually stationed here. The main reason that this rally point was so busy was because it lay on the main route to a lot of locations, meaning that soldiers passing through often stayed for the night before moving on. Naruto himself had been receiving some training in the East, and was now heading back with his squadron. He was supposed to be receiving new orders from this rally point, so he figured that he may be here a few days.

"Hey Naruto!" two members from the same squadron as him approached and sat on some boxes near him. "Have some of this." Shikamaru, the brown haired one who was usually fairly quiet, shoved a tin of.. Whatever-the-hell they were eating today into his hands. Naruto smiled gratefully. The other guy was Shino - another quiet one, but more.. Eerie than friendly.

"Where d'ya reckon we'll be assigned next?" the blond enquired, scoffing the food down hungrily without paying much attention to what it was (because it was never nice). Shikamaru shrugged in a bored fashion and Shino remained silent. Realising that, since Shino was going to remain silent, he would have to carry at least half of the conversation, Shikamaru sighed and eventually spoke.

"I heard that most of us will probably be assigned to ships," he tapped a finger against his rifle thoughtfully. "I mean, that's what you're trained to do, isn't it?"

"Well, yeah. I guess most of Japan's resources go into the Navy..."

"Yeah," Shikamaru snorted. "And I hear they want to get monopoly of the Indian Ocean."

The small-talk was interrupted by the familiar 'whup'ing noise that helicopter propellers make. They hadn't previously noticed it because the sky was now dark, and the 'copter had no lights on. It was attempting to land in the somewhat cramped clearing nearby. Shielding his eyes (fairly fruitlessly) from the wind being propelled in his face, Naruto watched as it landed with a dull thud. Had to admit, he was quite impressed that the pilot had managed to land it in such a restricted space.

Soldiers began pouring out of the side door. A captain jogged up to the helicopter and the pilot opened his door and leaned out to talk to him; it seemed urgent. The blond couldn't help but admire the, er, handsomeness of the pilot - the way his black hair contrasted against his pale skin - and then there was suddenly a massive explosion to the left. Naruto's world tipped sideways and momentarily went blank before he forced his eyes open again a moment later. His head throbbed and he swayed as he grappled for his gun which had fallen to the ground. Shikamaru and Shino were shouting at him - something about the defences being breached - before running in the direction of chaos. Naruto dizzily ran after them, already able to see them engaged with the enemy ranks that had breached the defensive walls and turrets. The floor kept violently shaking and it took the blond a moment to realise that grenades upon grenades were being tossed over the wall. One landed not far in front of him, near another soldier, and he shouted to warn the man. But he was too late and shielded his face with an elbow as he was sprayed with blood from the explosion, stumbling backwards. A rough hand shoved against his back and he regained his footing, glancing backwards to see the determined face of the pilot from a few minutes ago. No words were exchanged before the man had sprinted away. Naruto shook his head and rejoined Shikamaru's side, clubbing his gun over the head of the man that the brunet was in close combat with.

Peering over the wall, it was clear to see that they were outnumbered. The turrets had been blown up and stood empty, with burned carcasses surrounding them. Without those, the majority of their defences were gone. Naruto paled but stood his ground, shooting down as many of the enemy as he could. At one point he saw Shino take hold of one of the turrets, gunning down about twenty men before taking a bullet and dropping to the ground like a stone.

"Shino!" the blond viciously fought his way to where his friend lay face down. He heaved him over onto his back and saw that he was alive but bleeding heavily. "Come on!" Grabbing the soldier's collar, he began dragging him out of the danger zone. Shikamaru slowly approached, gun raised, to provide cover fire.

There was a sickening trail of blood that coated the grass where Shino had been dragged, but Naruto continued anyway.

"Medic! Medic!" he yelled frantically once out of immediate danger. A male he recognised - Kiba, another from his squadron - flung himself to the ground beside Shino and started pressing bandages to his wound. Although he desperately wanted to stay with his injured friend, Naruto knew that he needed to help hold off the attackers.

The walls were almost entirely overrun now. Enemy soldiers climbed over unopposed to join the battle; their own soldiers were being pushed back. Two ran at the blond but he quickly gunned them down, feeling one bullet fly past and graze his cheek. Briefly thanking his lucky stars, Naruto abruptly turned to narrowly deflect a knife aimed at his lower back. Another close escape. He twisted the man's arm and almost winced as he heard, and felt, the bone snap. The man screamed and writhed on the ground; Naruto lifted his gun and put him out of his misery.

"Fall back!" echoed distantly as it spread throughout the soldiers. Naruto also shouted it and began jogging backwards, suddenly aware of how many soldiers were advancing. He stood his ground for a while longer before a figure stumbled towards him from the side.

"Soldier, fall back!" the pilot practically yelled in Naruto's ear, roughly grabbing him and yanking him along beside him. "How much ammo have you got?" he panted as they sprinted back towards the camp.

"Not much," Naruto admitted. "Wait! My friend-" he tried to approach Shino and Kiba but the pilot stopped him.

"No time!"

"They're my friends!" Naruto growled. The pilot yelled something back - along the lines of 'moron!' - and sprinted on without him. The blond sharply turned towards Shino and dropped to his knees beside the guy.

"I couldn't save him," Kiba seemed to be babbling. Naruto felt a sharp stab of sadness and guilt, but this was neither the time nor the place for mourning. He ripped off Shino's dog tag, mumbled a quick 'sorry' and hauled Kiba to his feet. "Run!"

They ran together across the clearing. The helicopter was still grounded, but the raven pilot was struggling to regain control of it. There were two enemy soldiers attempting to lift off, and the pilot was angrily firing bullets through the front shield. None of them hit. The helicopter rose unsteadily into the air.

"Fuck!" the pilot cursed and spat, before running to take cover in the trees in the edge of the clearing. Naruto and Kiba followed suit. He could hear some of their allies also escaping through the trees as they tripped and stumbled through the undergrowth. Kiba almost ran into a tree at one point, and Naruto had to pull him back on course.

The pilot suddenly halted and made a 'stop' motion with his hand, followed by a pointing motion to a patch of overgrown grass and bush nestled between a group of trees. Naruto quickly pushed Kiba into it before crouching in it himself. The pilot squatted beside him and they remained as motionless as possible.

After a few moments heavy footsteps were heard. Naruto felt his heart rate quicken and he practically held his breath. He could hear Kiba's hushed panting beside him, but the pilot was eerily quiet and motionless. There were some scuffling noises followed by shouting, and then they thudded away. He let out an exhale of relief, and the pilot noticeably relaxed beside him.

"We should move. This isn't a good place." Before waiting for an agreement from the other two, the pilot had stood and started jogging in an inland direction, making sure to keep hidden within the trees. They ran for some time before eventually finding a somewhat secure area (as secure as trees could be, anyway). They settled down and took turns standing watch; Kiba took the first.

Naruto suddenly felt uneasy now that he was alone with the pilot. He gratefully dropped his pack onto the floor and shed the heavier parts of his armour.

"Uzumaki, Naruto. But you can call me Naruto," he extended a hand and flashed the guy a grin. He probably did owe the raven his life.

"Uchiha," the man replied coldly, giving his hand a quick shake before dropping it again hastily. Naruto waited for Uchiha to continue, but obviously he wasn't going to.

"...Got a first name?" he said it in a joking tone, but he was a little offended that the guy didn't deem him 'worthy' enough to know it. Uchiha made a 'hn' noise.

"Sasuke."

"Cool." And then silence settled like a heavy blanket around the two. It was somewhat smothering and unsettling. Sasuke eventually broke it.

"I'm going to rest. You take the next watch after Kiba, then wake me up when it is my turn."

"Yes," Naruto dutifully agreed, watching as the guy wriggled out of his outer layers and curled up on his side on the ground. He was quite skinny for someone in the armed forces.

Naruto's watch came and went. He woke up Sasuke. Then he slept. Then he did another watch. Repeat. Sleeping for only an hour or so at a time really took it out of you. He woke in the morning feeling like someone had been rolling his eyeballs in gravel whilst he was sleeping. Naruto stifled a large yawn and staggered to his feet, beginning the process of clipping his outer layers back on. Sasuke had taken the last watch and so was already ready to move on. They set off in silence, the medic trailing behind them.

They walked for hours. The medic's stamina was evidently not as honed as his and Sasuke's, and so Naruto noticed that he began to lag behind. He stopped to let him catch up a few times, ignoring the heavy 'sorry's and brushing them off with a smile.

"Are you alright?" the blond eventually asked, compelled to start a conversation.

"Yes," Kiba replied, but it seemed hesitant. He seemed to realise this, as he started to justify himself. "I mean..." he trailed off. "Shino. He just.. Kept bleeding. I couldn't-" Naruto suddenly understood. He had also been silently mourning the loss of Shino, but had somewhat forgotten how close Kiba had been to him too. And how Kiba had been the one that he'd died with.

"It's alright." Naruto cut Kiba off. "You did your best. I know that. He knew that. There was nothing more you could do." Kiba still seemed distraught, but straightened a bit.

"It was just - the blood -" Naruto again cut him off by slinging a comforting arm around his shoulder and slapping him on the back in a friendly manner. Kiba was a fairly new recruit. The blond knew he would get used to the blood eventually.

"Just don't think about it. You'll see a lot of it here." Kiba nodded and seemed unsettled, but said no more. Naruto strode on ahead to catch up with Sasuke, who was still eerily calm about their entire situation: wandering aimlessly in a forest.

"Is there a problem?" Sasuke's sudden voice cut through the air like a knife. Obviously he hadn't been oblivious to Kiba's trailing behind after all.

"Yes. We lost a friend back there and I think he's still-"

"He'll have to get used to it. War is not easy on the heart. Or the eyes." Naruto was somewhat pissed off with the bastard's dismissive manner, but let it slide. For now.

"Do you have a plan?" he asked in an admittedly sharp voice.

"Not entirely." Sasuke didn't elaborate and Naruto was pissed off enough as it was. He fell back and walked with Kiba for the remainder of the day, settling for glowering at the raven's back.

Naruto didn't realise how much of a mess he was until they passed a stream later that day. They briefly stopped to refill their water flasks and give their aching knees a break, and it was at this point the blond caught sight of his own reflection. His hair was matted and almost brown from mud. His face was coated with crusted blood, and the bullet that had grazed his cheek had left a cracked cut in its wake. Pulling a face, Naruto washed his hands in the water and splashed it in his face. Sasuke and Kiba did the same.

"Are you going to tell us what you have planned yet, bastard?" Naruto eventually asked. Sasuke glowered.

"Don't speak to your superiors like that," the raven snapped.

"You're not _my_ superior. Mine was-"

"I don't care," Sasuke snarled. "I'm a lieutenant; treat me as one." He stalked off into the undergrowth, effectively ending that conversation too. Kiba rolled his eyes at Naruto in a playful way before the two solemnly followed.

"He's a bit of a bastard," Naruto grumbled to Kiba. Kiba seemed to agree, but wasn't as disrespectful as Naruto (out loud, anyway). Sasuke heard the blond, turned around, shot him the most terrifying glare that Naruto had ever witnessed, and continued with his stalking away.

"Please don't let him kill me in my sleep, Kiba."

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><p>"Shhh. Over there." Sasuke pointed the tip of his sniper through a bush. Naruto, who was pressed against a tree, could see. He wasn't blind.<p>

Before them was a new clearing. It was smaller than the previous but less full, leaving more space in general. The enemy soldiers had begun recuperating their ranks there. Also, at the edge of the clearing, was a haphazardly 'parked' helicopter. It looked slightly beaten up, like it had mostly fallen out of the sky. Sasuke, again, seemed eerily calm and collected as he surveyed the situation.

"Alright, here's the plan," he said, quietly retreating from the edge of the clearing and approaching his teammates. "We need to get out of here. We can't stick around here forever. The helicopter is our way out."

"There are too many men," Naruto objected. By the withering look on Sasuke's face, he hadn't finished speaking. Naruto defiantly returned the stare.

"There are too many men for us to take on single-handedly, but I think if we use tactics we can take the helicopter back. It's the middle of the day. They won't be expecting an attack - at least, not for another few days at least." He relayed the plan to Naruto and Kiba, who listened avidly.

Fifteen minutes later, everyone was ready. The plan was simple, and Naruto was nervous - because hell, there were only three of them against about thirty - but it might just work. And it was probably their only ticket out of here.

He could see Kiba crouched near Sasuke on the other side of the clearing - the side nearest to the helicopter. Sasuke gave him the signal. He returned the signal and began throwing the rocks he'd collected. He skimmed them through the trees, making sure they made a loud enough noise to warrant the soldiers checking it out, but not loud enough for them to instantly panic. He heard them talking amongst themselves, their attention on his half of the clearing. Some of the men began drawing closer.

Naruto saw Kiba's arm move, and suddenly there were explosions in the centre of the clearing, between the helicopter and the men. Between Naruto and his remaining squadron. The enemy were all now near Naruto, having jumped back in alarm at the grenades. Sasuke took aim and -

Bullseye. Their captain dropped to the ground soundlessly. The soldiers panicked and started firing into the trees. Sasuke and Kiba neared the helicopter. Just a little while longer...

Naruto burst through the smoke, gunning down the men closest to him. There were still plenty left, but at least their attention was on him now. He took out two more before beginning to retreat, using the smoky air from the grenades to his advantage.

Behind him, he heard the slow sound of the helicopter starting up. Knowing that that was his signal, he sprayed a few more bullets before sprinting back. The chopper was already a few feet off the ground and Naruto leapt, grabbing onto the side with his left hand. He slipped a bit.

Kiba was there and grabbed his right arm, hauling him up. The sound of bullets bouncing off the helicopter's metal frame rang out and the two instinctively tucked their limbs in, terrified of losing something. Angry shouts rang out below. Naruto shot an arrogant victory sign over the side of the helicopter, before his eyes widened. One of the men was aiming a bazooka at them.

"Sasuke! Bazooka!" He heard the brunet curse angrily before jolting the chopper sharply left at the last moment. It was perfectly timed, and the rocket narrowly missed. However, it still exploded.

The blast shook the helicopter and applied a massive force to its right side. Naruto grabbed Kiba and one of the seatbelts, flattening himself to the ground as much as he could whilst it was sent into violent spins. Vaguely, he could hear Sasuke releasing a string of swear words and hisses. They flew further through the air, and once they'd lost some momentum Sasuke sharply turned the wheel to counteract the spinning. It felt like he'd broken his arms in the process, but it stopped spinning so much. The chopper dipped, sputtered slightly, but then regained itself. Sasuke pulled it up and out of harm's way, arms aching like a bitch.

Shakily Naruto got to his feet and sat in one of the seats. Kiba did the same, but soon threw up on the floor. The blond pulled a face but patted his friend on the back. He was looking undeniably ghost-like.

"Sasuke," he managed to force out, walking to the front of the chopper once his legs didn't feel like jelly. "Good job." It came out as more of a whisper, though. He felt like he'd just been through a spin cycle. Sasuke nodded. "Where now?" he sat in the co-pilot's seat. Sasuke looked at him disapprovingly but said nothing about it.

"Uzumaki, right? What is the medic's last name?"

"Inuzuka. Kiba." He still found the raven rude.

"I didn't arrive at the rally point only to drop off reinforcements. I have your squadron's new orders. You're to join the team aboard the Akagi." Naruto looked blank, so he continued. "Akagi is the aircraft carrier. Surely you've heard of it?" It was obvious that Naruto hadn't, so he just sighed and shook his head.

"So we _are_ finally going to sea..."

"You're in the Navy. What did you expect?" Sasuke snorted, but said nothing more. Naruto considered this. He'd never even seen, let alone been aboard, an aircraft carrier before.

"Well, it was nice working with you. Er, _fun_ while it lasted," Naruto stood up to rejoin Kiba.

"Actually, I'm also on Akagi. Unfortunately." Sasuke looked displeased. Naruto felt a chill run through his body as he retreated to his own seat.

"What's goin' on?" Kiba asked, looking noticeably better now.

"Looks like we're going to be stuck with the bastard for some time," Naruto grumbled.

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><p><strong>AN: Reviews would make my day. :)**


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